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Info Absolution (Summary - List of stories) . The Innocent Dove << previous act | Act 1 of 4 | next act >> The Laughing Reaper << previous chapter | Chapter 3 of 39 '''| next chapter >> << previous scene | '''Scene 2 of 2 | next scene >> Summary * Location: *Participants: *Time: *Summary: Text Celestia nodded to Antares as the young stallion wheezed and slumped a bit, head bowed and eyes closed, but a bright smile on his face as the ivory mare complimented: "Excellently done, Antares. You may not be able to harness many kinds of magic, but you're learning to mix what magic you can control very well into own style of combat." Antares gazed up at Celestia thankfully as he managed to straighten a bit: his armor had been repaired, polished, and cleaned, and he was dressed in full gear... and this time, wearing heavy, weighted bracers as well. Celestia, meanwhile, had taken her own armor off, but she looked almost envious as she sat at one side of the large training room, her eyes filled with pride for her nephew. The training room they were in was taller than it was wide, and dominated by a towering and wild structure of girders, rings, hoops, ramps, and targets: in essence, it was a vertical obstacle course that almost reached the ceiling roughly fifty feet above them, with a single platform at the top that formed the finish line. Celestia had been guiding Antares up and down this for hours now, having him run different drills, occasionally changing the positions of girders or beams or platforms, sometimes even setting up traps and targets for Antares to avoid and try and destroy as he made his way up or down the course. She was a hard taskmaster, but she was encouraging and fair: she gave Antares support and tutoring, and knew the best way to get through to him. There was one way he was particularly like his parents, after all: soft words got through to him a lot better than demands and orders. And by now, Celestia knew just how to prod him if he started slacking or slowing up... not that Antares often did. In fact, his obsessive training almost worried her at times: it reminded her of had-been-heroes who spent all their time training and working hard towards accomplishing some violent revenge... heroes who too often turned out to be worse than the so-called evils they wanted to destroy, when their obsession began to drive them to ripping apart any unfortunate bystander that made the mistake of getting between them and their objective. What soothed her was that she knew Antares trained so hard for two reasons: because he wanted to one day become as strong as his parents had been, and because he wasn't seeking revenge... he was seeking to save his parents. And one thing that Antares clung to, no matter what, was the idea that in order to save Luna and Scrivener he would have to do it right: no shortcuts, no cutting corners, and most of all, he had to be what his parents had always seen him as. Their savior, their shining light, their guiding star. He worked every single day to be honorable, above all other things... and even if he didn't always succeed, even if he had his moments where Celestia was reminded all too clearly of who his parents were... he still made her proud, and almost jealous of his radiant light. "I want you to ascend the tower one more time, Antares, and then we'll stop for the day. As fast as you can through the obstacle course." Celestia said calmly, and Antares nodded firmly once before he set himself, as the ivory mare smiled slightly at her nephew. "I know you can still shave a few more seconds off your best time." "Maybe not today, Aunt Tia, but I'll try." Antares nodded after a moment, blushing a bit as he looked towards the base of the obstacle course, eying the ramp as he gritted his teeth and dropped to a ready position. He took a slow breath, tensing himself, forcing his mind to override the soreness in his body... and then he felt more than heard Celestia's sharp command to start, and he sprung immediately forwards. He let his body move on instinct: he already knew the rough layout of the course, after all, but his hooves knew it much better than his mind did, and so it was his instincts that he let take over, simply doing his best to act instead of think. And for the first few levels of the course, it was easy; he leapt from ramp to narrow girder, charging along it before leaping up and kicking off a steel column and gracefully twisting his body to land on top of another high beam, not even needing to spread his wings as he charged down it and ran up another ramp... And then something lashed by him, dark and smoky and alive, and Antares gritted his teeth but forced himself not to react, to concentrate on the course as he continued to bolt upwards. He ran along a narrow catwalk, and then his eyes widened as the dark, smoky shape twisted around in midair and shot straight towards him- Antares leapt high before he even realized what he was doing, flapping his wings once to launch himself over the shadowy missile, and it shot by just beneath him before twisting violently around a pillar and shooting at his back. Without missing a beat, however, Antares landed smoothly, then lunged upwards again, flapping his wings hard as he ran almost straight up another steel pillar and kicked off to gracefully twist and land atop another platform as the smoky shape shot by again. The glossy black young stallion gritted his teeth, knowing this could only be one thing as he charged forwards, weaving back and forth through a forest of metal bars, the shape closely following behind him: a demon. The shape tore through the bars behind him, weaving much faster through them: then again, being incorporeal smoke gave it an advantage. Antares cursed, looking over his shoulder before he simply lunged upwards, reacting on instinct, and the shape tore beneath him as he flung all four hooves out and shoved each against a steel column, keeping himself balanced in the air before he tensed his body, then kicked upwards and flapped his wings as hard as he dared, launching himself higher on instinct. He looked up to see the bottom of another girder, grabbing onto it and hauling himself easily up with a grunt before running along it to a connecting support. The demon was already chasing him again, but now Antares was only concentrating on getting higher, leaping from girder to girder to narrow platform, making his way upwards until he was only a few steps away from the finish line... And in front of him, the demon smashed through the wooden platform that was the final step between him and the finish. Antares cursed, then he gritted his teeth before leaping forwards anyway, even as wooden shrapnel flew in all directions, and he landed with a grunt of pain on top of a narrow support column that had once held up the wooden walk before he threw himself in a final mad leap, flapping his wings wildly as he lifted his legs to try and counter the heavy weights attached to them and seizing the edge of the finish platform with a shout. Then his eyes bulged as he felt his hindquarters slide backwards, kicking his legs wildly... before cloven hooves seized him behind his shoulders and yanked him forwards, laughter filling the air as a familiar voice said warmly: "Oh come on, Nova, you should have made that! Has Aunt Tia been running my poor cousin too hard?" Antares wheezed in relief as he dropped flat on top of the tower, then he grinned widely as he looked up warmly at a light-pink colored mare with a raven-black, straight mane that fell in a waterfall to one side of her face, neatly braided into a knot by her shoulder. Her eyes were radiant emerald, a shade lighter than the cutie mark on her haunch of a green serpent coiled in a spiral. "Apps! What are you doing here?" "Mommy and I came to find Celestia and Twilight Sparkle... something bad's happened in Ponyville." She became more serious, and Antares frowned at this: his cousin, Aphrodisia Celeste Pie, was almost never serious, not unless something truly bad happened. For a moment, the demonic mare hesitated... then she licked her large, sharp teeth nervously with her forked tongue, flicking an ear that was studded with several gemstone earrings. "Daddy was really worried. I hate it when Daddy worries, little cousin." "You are six years younger than me." Antares pointed out, but Aphrodisia only responded to this by almost purring as she stepped up beside him, pushing their sides together and making him roll his eyes in amusement. Despite her age, Aphrodisia had aged twice as fast as he did with her demonic heritage: it meant she was already a fully-developed mare, and well on her way to becoming a fully-developed demon as well. "Okay, okay. But shouldn't you be..." "No, Mommy came too, see?" Aphrodisia leaned forwards, pointing over the edge of the platform, and Antares stepped forwards and looked down with surprise to see Celestia was talking with Pinkamena below. He smiled after a moment, then glanced at his cousin, and she smiled back before becoming nothing but black smoke that twisted sinuously around him before shooting down to the ground, easily reforming beside her mother. "I wish I could do that." Antares mumbled, and then he leapt off the top of the tower, spreading his wings to glide in a smooth, quick descent down to land beside Celestia. He looked up with a smile as Pinkamena's eyes flicked to him. "Hey, Aunt Pinkamena." "Hey, kid." Pinkamena gave a slight smile, revealing some of her sharp teeth: she was a dull, grayish-pink color, her mane long and straight, silver piercings glimmering in her ears and seeming to reflect the strange glow of her unnatural, red-rimmed blue eyes. She wasn't large, but she gave off an aura of strength... and she was only made all the more impressive by the beautiful tattoo that took up the entire left side of her breast and half-scrawled down one leg, of twisting and twining ivy that wrapped around the profile of a black tree. It stood out even clearer than the emblem on her flank, of black and gray balloons. "Looks like you're coming back to Ponyville with us a little early." "What's going on?" Antares asked apprehensively, and Pinkamena grimaced, making Antares wince a little. "That bad?" "Worse. There was an attack at the hospital and some kind of plague's broken out and hit Ponyville. We've already started looking into it, but not even your sister knows what the hell is going on. Ponies are getting real sick, real fast." Pinkamena stopped, then he shook her head, saying quietly: "Nibelung too, but demons and Nightmares seem immune to it so far. Hard to say, though... just started a few hours ago, but already a lot of ponies are sick." Celestia frowned at this, shaking her head and saying quietly: "It must be a demonic or supernatural infection, then. I'll make all haste to Ponyville, along with Twilight Sparkle, Prestige, and Antares. Pinkamena, can you go immediately to the hospital, find out what happened there? Look into recent events as well: shipments, suspicious deaths, autopsies, anything that could have a link to this." "I hate it when you give me orders." Pinkamena said sourly, but then she sighed and nodded before looking mildly over at Aphrodisia. "Behave for Princess Sunshine and take care of your cousin, you got that, filly? Make sure they all get to Ponyville in one piece." "Yes, Mommy." Aphrodisia nodded firmly, and Pinkamena gave a small smile before the gray-pink demon mare turned and burst apart into dark smoke that vanished completely from sight a moment later. Aphrodisia gazed admiringly in her mother's wake for a moment, then she smiled over at the other ponies, saying quietly: "You heard her. Let's go." "I agree. I'm going to fetch my armor and the Yamato Guard, we may need the assistance of our allies of the night to deal with this infection. Antares, Aphrodisia, go ahead and find Twilight Sparkle and Prestige. We'll meet outside of the castle and leave for Ponyville together." Celestia said calmly, and the two young ponies nodded before the ivory winged unicorn strode quickly past towards the door. Antares hesitated for a moment, looking worriedly over at Aphrodisia... but the demon shook her head and smiled a little, saying finally: "Look, it's gonna be fine, Nova, okay? Avalon, Rusty and Meadowlark are all okay." She paused, then made a face, adding moodily: "But maybe Meadowlark we can let get a little sick." The young stallion sighed and shook his head, then he strode quickly forwards, and the demon grinned as she followed after him, saying positively: "What about Prestige, then? Can we let her get sick? I wouldn't mind her dying on us, too. She can die." "Apps, try and behave a little, huh?" Antares asked mildly as they headed quickly down the hall, and the demon only shrugged amiably as the glossy black pony added dryly: "And I thought we worked through this whole Meadowlark thing." "No, no. I still don't like her." Aphrodisia remarked almost cheerfully, and Antares rolled his eyes before she checked him lightly with a wink. "I know you do but you can do so much better than her, sweetie." Antares only gave her an amused look, and then he glanced up and gave a sigh of relief as he saw Twilight Sparkle hurrying down the hall towards him with Prestige stumbling along behind her, the violet mare calling: "Antares! Did you hear... oh, Aphrodisia, did you tell him?" "Yes, Celestia said to meet her out in front of the castle, we have to head to... uh, Prestige, are you okay?" Antares frowned a bit as the unicorn stumbled to a halt beside the Lich, the young mare wheezing loudly in and out as Aphrodisia scowled at her. But for once, Prestige didn't look like she could even cough up an insult, her features pale, her limbs wobbling a little beneath her as sweat visibly spilled down her features. "Are... are you sick?" "She's recovering... I think." Twilight looked nervously over her shoulder at Prestige, shaking her head quickly. "I just heard about the epidemic in Ponyville, Spike sent a letter directly to me. Then Prestige collapsed and I was able to put two plus two together fast enough to stop her illness from progressing... but if what Prestige was sick with is the same as what hit in Ponyville..." "Was sick... I am sick!" Prestige whined loudly, shivering violently before she moaned pitiably. "Look at me and say I'm not sick!" Twilight only grimaced, however, looking over her shoulder and murmuring: "Yeah, you are still sick, but you could be much, much worse, Prestige. You were much worse, as a matter of fact... look, the only sick person Prestige had contact with was Straw Crown, a coroner from Canterlot. I've already contacted the Royal Guards and the heads of the magic academy... they might not like me much but they do at least respect my opinion, and they're going to be screening everyone they can in Canterlot for this illness. It took a powerful cleansing spell to dilute the disease, and as you can see, that doesn't even get rid of it entirely... but I'm confident that now Prestige should be able to cope with it, at least. Until we find a cure." "What? Cope? I wanna be healed!" Prestige complained loudly, and Twilight gritted her teeth before the young mare shivered and whispered: "I think I'm getting worse again... can't... can't you teach me the spell you used?" The Lich frowned, then she shook her head and turned towards the young mare, her horn glowing as she scanned over her... then her eyes widened and she shook her head, murmuring: "No, that's not possible... now it seems like an entirely different disease, it's attacking... okay, okay Prestige, this is going to hurt, but then you're going to feel better, okay?" Twilight took a slow breath, and Prestige looked up, pale from both pain and fear before her eyes widened, and she gave a strangled cry as Twilight's horn glowed brightly. Other ponies stopped to stare, even Royal Guards halting as a bright white light washed over and encased Prestige, Twilight gritting her teeth as her eyes glowed with the power of the spell... and then the Lich cursed and staggered backwards, her horn sparking violently as Prestige toppled over, body steaming faintly and trembling violently. Antares stared in shock and Aphrodisia had winced backwards as well, her own sharp teeth grit before the demon shivered a little and hugged herself, muttering: "Almost makes me feel sorry for her. Almost." Prestige shuddered on the ground... and then slowly, the young mare shook her head dazedly before she sat up, groaning and rubbing at her face. She coughed once, then sniffled... but then blinked a few times as Twilight sighed in relief, some of the color returning to the unicorn mare's cheeks. Then the Lich winced when a Royal Guard approached and reached up to grasp her shoulder... but instead of scolding or reprimanding her, the Guard asked hurriedly: "Can you come with me and show that spell to the other guards and mages? We just got a report of an outbreak at the magic school and none of our spells have been working." "I... okay. Prestige, Antares, Aphrodisia, go ahead. I'll catch up when I can." Twilight said after a moment, nodding quickly as she reached up and nervously brushed a hoof against her collar, and the demon and young stallion nodded as Prestige only looked blearily up. "Let Celestia know she doesn't have to wait for me, I'll meet you in Ponyville one way or the other." Twilight turned, following the Royal Guard down the hall with several other soldiers, and Antares looked back and forth, breathing a little harder as he realized that he could almost feel the panic all around them. There was a buzz in the air, as if rumors were adding fuel to a fire that was very real and quickly growing, and Antares shook his head worriedly as he murmured: "If it's spread this fast here, then Ponyville... come on, we gotta go." Prestige stumbled to her hooves as Antares and Aphrodisia both turned to hurry down the corridor, and the young mare wheezed as she staggered after them, half-calling out to the two. Antares winced, but Aphrodisia only growled under her breath before the demon suddenly lunged around in a circle, running quickly back to Prestige and scooping her up to toss her over her back, the young mare squeaking as she clung down against the demon with a terrified look on her face when Aphrodisia spun around and broke into a sprint that Antares easily matched. "Put me down, prostatot!" "Oh you have no idea how much I would love to drop you on your face, but we're on a schedule here." Aphrodisia retorted, sniffing loudly before she added mockingly, as she firmly bucked upwards mid-run to make Prestige yelp in pain and surprise: "Besides, I thought this was where us slave hoofs were supposed to be and all." "I hate you!" Prestige cried, and Antares rolled his eyes as he continued to run alongside the demon, the two making their way quickly through the corridors of Canterlot Castle: and more and more, now that he was looking for it, Antares saw the worry and concern on faces of ponies they passed, many of them rushing through the halls themselves. Both Aphrodisia and Antares were able to dodge around most of the ponies that got in their way, however, and Antares only had to call back one awkward apology when he leapt over a Royal Guard and his rear hooves slapped against the soldier's helmet. They made good time to the exit, heading out a short distance onto the road leading to Ponyville... and then both ponies stopped as Prestige looked up, shivering and still clinging to Aphrodisia before she screeched when the demon bucked forwards and threw her off. It was almost a reflex gesture, however, since both young stallion and demon were staring around themselves in disbelief: wagons were being hitched, ponies were hurrying away, and it looked as if there was a mass exodus already under way... but to where, neither of them could guess. Then Prestige shoved herself quickly up to her hooves, growling angrily before she snapped: "Excuse me, prostatot, but I did not require the help of a whore-demon to make my way here, especially since we have now arrived long before Celestia and are standing amidst a horde of cowardly mudwalkers all so frightened by a little sickness they're running wild!" Aphrodisia looked for a moment at Prestige... then she suddenly leaned forwards and hissed, baring enormous, curved fangs and sharp, deadly teeth, her eyes glowing poison green and her features becoming skull-like. Prestige screeched at this and fell backwards, and then Aphrodisia straightened, features smoothing out into beauty once more as she smiled teasingly, saying kindly: "Remember, dummy, I'm only half whore-demon. The other half of me is kill-you-to-bits-demon." Antares sighed tiredly, looking quietly at the two as he asked almost pleadingly: "Can you two please focus? And Prestige, a lot of ponies here are terrified, not cowards. The news of the plague that hit Ponyville is just filtering in here... and on top of that, the magic academy and part of Canterlot Castle is being quarantined. If this keeps up, Aunt Tia might not be able to leave here..." "She's gotta leave here, though, we need to save Ponyville first." Aphrodisia said worriedly, frowning over at Antares, and when the glossy-black stallion gave her a pointed look, the demon only huffed and shook her head quickly. "Well, I don't care a whole lot about Canterlot and stuff, Nova. I care about Ponyville. That's where Mommy and Daddy are, and that's what Aunt Tia really cares about and everything, too." "Aunt Tia cares about all of Equestria, and everypony here." Antares said gently, and when Aphrodisia gave him an amused look, he huffed a bit. "It's true, Pinkslap... and besides, if Canterlot falls apart, then Aunt Tia would have to move back to the Temple of the Sun or something. How would you like that?" "Okay, okay." Aphrodisia huffed, then she turned her eyes out over the crowd, murmuring: "I guess I'm just worried, Nova. I don't think Aunt Twilight can cast that fancy spell on everypony in Ponyville, and we all know that she's almost as strong as Aunt Tia." "The Lich is powerful, but she's not that strong." Prestige muttered... then she squeaked when Aphrodisia bared her fangs and shoved her face against the unicorn's, eyes glowing balefully. "Don't you talk about my Aunt Twilight that way, got it?" Aphrodisia asked moodily, and Prestige swallowed thickly before the demon huffed and reached both hooves up to firmly shove the young mare's head down into the ground, making her squawk. She held her in place, Prestige flailing uselessly as Aphrodisia looked grumpily over at Antares, who only looked sourly back. "Why haven't we killed her yet? If she behaved this way around Mommy, Mommy would eat her." "Well, please don't kill her now, Apps, we might need her help." Antares said tiredly, and Aphrodisia grumbled, but then finally stepped off Prestige's head, letting the humiliated-looking unicorn hurriedly scramble back up to her hooves. She glared balefully at Aphrodisia, but at least was smart enough to keep her snide comments to herself this time before Antares looked worriedly off into the distance and murmured: "You're right, though, Aphrodisia, we gotta help Ponyville. But if that coroner was the one who got the disease first..." "He said something about Ponyville, though..." Prestige muttered, and both the ponies looked at her curiously. Immediately, the young mare winced back, but when she realized they were interested instead of aggressive, she nervously glanced back and forth at the ponies hurrying past them before stepping closer and saying hesitantly: "He... he said something about a Clockwork Pony being held in Ponyville, at the hospital..." Antares stiffened at this, his eyes widening... and then, without another word, he turned and shot down the road as Aphrodisia threw her head back and groaned, then glared angrily at Prestige, snapping: "Thanks a lot, genius! Nova, hey, wait up Nova!" With that, the demon turned and bolted after Antares, and Prestige blinked a few times before she grumbled loudly and mumbled a few angry curses at the backs of the two. She dropped down on her haunches, raising her head with a sniff as she looked back and forth at the crowd of ponies around her, mumbling: "I'm going to do the right thing at least. Wait for the Baroness, yes, the Baroness, who may be soft on her subjects but is all the same a noble and valorous winged unicorn, penultimate of the species. Yes... I'm not really alone here at all, I'm just... waiting, and... I would be of no help to Antares and Aphrodisia, after all, better to wait for the Lich or the Baroness or..." Prestige stuttered to a halt, then winced when a large wagon rolled by her, pulled by two enormous earth ponies and with several families stuffed inside it and trunks of luggage on the roof... and Prestige hesitated for a few moments before she groaned and dropped her head forwards, beginning to trot quickly down the path after Antares and Aphrodisia. Category:Transcript Category:Story